Crisis deepens for Baillieu

THE Victorian Liberal party descended further into crisis last
night, with allies of leader Ted Baillieu seeking to expel the
young members involved in the recent blogging scandal, and one of
the bloggers vowing to fight to stay in the party.

Speaking to The Sunday Age, John Osborn, sacked earlier
this month along with fellow Liberal staffer Simon Morgan for
setting up an anti-Baillieu blog, said last night that he
considered moves for his expulsion from the party "as a double
punishment for a single act, driven more by a desire for political
scalps than regard for principles of procedural fairness".

It is understood he will resist any attempts for a suspension or
expulsion from the party and make use of all avenues of appeal
under the party's constitution, raising the spectre of months of
destabilisation.

But a key Baillieu supporter, shadow treasurer Kim Wells, said
it would be outrageous if the two, who maintained the blog "Ted
Baillieu MUST GO," were not dumped from the party.

"This was outright treachery," he told The Sunday Age.
"If they are not expelled from the party you are sending a message
to all party members that this sort of activity is acceptable."

However, supporters of the anti-Baillieu group, known as the
Kroger-Costello faction after power-broker Michael Kroger and
former treasurer Peter Costello, have vowed to oppose any moves to
expel the young bloggers.

They have turned the attack back on Mr Baillieu, saying the
party's key governing bodies, the administrative committee and the
policy assembly, are seething over his alleged leaking of dozens of
internal emails to The Age after the blog scandal was
revealed.

Sources say these committees have the numbers to reject Mr
Baillieu's push to expel the bloggers and could even censure, or
publicly rebuke, the party leader over the email issue.

Several members of the administrative committee have told The
Sunday Age that Mr Baillieu himself will be the one facing fury
at its next meeting on June 6.

"I can tell you people in the administrative committee are
really upset," said a source close to the body, which is in charge
of conducting the party's business.

One committee member has written to state president David Kemp
over their concerns about the Opposition leader's handling of the
blog crisis, while another senior Liberal said Mr Baillieu should
resign. "If he doesn't, at some stage it will all be raised in the
party room."

Mr Baillieu's supporters say the only people who have anything
to answer for are in the Kroger-Costello camp.

One ally yesterday named the state leader's perceived enemies
for the first time, saying: "Let Peter Costello, Michael Kroger,
(senator) Michael Ronaldson and (senator-elect) Helen Kroger defend
the use of volunteers' money to run a website based in the US
attacking the state party. They should come out publicly to defend
such treason."

These people were simply "apologists" for Mr Morgan and Mr
Osborn.

The Kroger-Costello group has vowed to fight the expulsion of
the bloggers. "I don't believe in sacrificial lambs to buy people
off," one senior member said.

Another source said there was a view the bloggers had already
"suffered enormously".

But one Liberal MP said the grassroots members  who raise
thousands of dollars to pay the wages of those working in party
headquarters  would be furious if the two were not expelled
from the party for wasting their money.

Another MP implored the two to "grow up, do the decent thing and
resign from the party".

Mr Baillieu has called for a clean-out of a "cancer" of
treachery within the party.

The stand-off is likely to escalate unless the Liberals' state
director Tony Nutt and president David Kemp can broker a settlement
as part of their investigation into the blog affair. Their report
is due this week.

Senior sources say the likely outcome of the probe is that a
small number of junior party members linked to the blogmay have
their membership revoked. But to eject a member requires a 70% vote
of the policy assembly, and insiders say Mr Baillieu does not have
the numbers.